Two close friends, neighbors killed by hit-run driver

Shane Kizzy Joseph told the FHP she didn't know the man who was driving the SUV, a vehicle owned by her sister

Veronica Williams and Bessie Anderson were killed when a red-light…

June 2, 2014|Henry Pierson Curtis, Orlando Sentinel

Veronica Williams and Bessie Anderson died together, two neighbors bonded by friendship and need.

They were driving Sunday evening to do weekly shopping when a red-light runner struck and killed them blocks from their Pine Hills homes, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Williams, 53, was known as the Martha Stewart of her extended family for cooking and hosting parties. A retired child-care worker, she was one class away from graduating with an accounting degree from Valencia College despite her fears that she was too old to go to college.

Anderson, 78, worked at Tropical Cleaners on Old Winter Garden Road until January. Described as "a little spitfire," she retired to stay at home with her husband, Mister Jimmy, disabled years ago by a stroke.

Hearing that description, her daughter Barbara Rosetta laughed and said, "If she was wrong or right, she stood her ground — just ask Daddy."

Both families spent the hours since their deaths wondering why.

Fatal hit-and-run crashes are up in Central Florida, accounting for 11 of the 32 deaths across the state this year. And there have been 1,138 non-fatal hit-and-run crashes in the six-county region, according to FHP.

"It's not fair for her to lose her life like this over stupidity," one of Williams' four sisters, Valerie Jenkins, said in an angry voice strained by exhaustion. "My sister lost her life over foolishness."

Ciera Ivory, a niece whom Williams raised like a daughter, described her as beautiful, brilliant and giving. That's why Williams had taken Anderson food shopping every week and why she went back to school so she could help with the bookkeeping at her husband James' plumbing business.

Anderson's former boss, Barbara Sackett at Tropical Cleaners, said, "She was something else. She didn't take nothing from nobody. She was a character."

Williams and Anderson lived three houses apart on Balboa Drive.

They died shortly after 7 p.m. Sunday when Williams had a green light and drove west on Balboa Drive across North Pine Hills Road. That's when the unidentified driver of a northbound Volkswagen SUV ran the red light and crushed the driver's side of her Toyota sedan, according to FHP.

The driver abandoned the SUV, leaving an injured passenger in the front seat, and ran away. He remained at large Monday as troopers continued to investigate, including examining the passenger's statement.

Shane Kizzy Joseph, the passenger, first claimed she had no idea who had been driving, said FHP Sgt. Kim Montes.

"She said she was waiting at a bus stop in the rain when he stopped and offered her a ride," Montes said. "She got in and said he started driving crazy."

However, a check of the 2004 VW Touareg's registration records showed it belonged to Joseph's sister. Joseph, 24, who was treated at Orlando Regional Medical Center, is now cooperating with the traffic homicide investigation, according to FHP.

Troopers found surveillance camera video of the crash after canvassing businesses and residences near the busy intersection.

Anyone with information about the hit-and-run driver is asked to call Crimeline at 407-423-8477.